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Operation Medak Pocket: Mid-September 1993 United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) and the 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (2PPCLI) advanced into the Medak Pocket, named after the village of Medak, in Southern Croatia, with orders to implement a ceasefire between the Croatian Army Troops and Serbian irregular forces.[4]
The Croatian offensive temporarily succeeded in expelling rebel Serb forces from the pocket after several days of fighting. However, the operation ended in controversy after a skirmish with United Nations peacekeepers and accusations of serious Croatian war crimes against local Serb civilians. Although the outcome of the battle was a tactical victory for the Croatians, it became a serious political liability for the Croatian government and international political pressure forced a withdrawal to the previous ceasefire lines.
According to Canadian and French military sources, UN and Croatian troops exchanged heavy fire. In Canada, at the time, the battle was considered to be one of the most severe battles fought by the Canadian Forces since the Korean War,[5] while Croatian sources describe it as merely a brief, accidental exchange of fire resulting in few casualties.
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Up to the early 1990s Yugoslavia was a federation of six republics: Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia. All six republics once lived harmoniously amongst one another with similar language, culture and customs; until the collapse of the centralized communist authority in Yugoslavia in the late 1980s.[4][6] With the fall of the communist power in Yugoslavia, nationalists from each republic proceeded into central politics. Serbian Slobodan Milosevic and Croatian Franjo Tudjman rose to power and replaced the Yugoslavian culture and customs with a nation based on race and religion.[4] Meanwhile, Serbia was the most powerful of all the republics and attempted to take full control of the falling nations. The growing nationalists in Croatia and Slovenia disagreed with the Serbian vacuum power progressing and declared independence in 1991, with Bosnia quickly following suit.[4]
Croatia and Bosnia had a very high population of Serbian civilians during the time of the break from Yugoslavia. The Croatian and Bosnian Serbs established paramilitary forces and resisted the new governments in two separate civil wars.[4] Within the first few months of these wars the Yugoslavian National Army (JNA) quickly intervened to avert the break up of the federation by assisting the Serb militia in both Croatia and Bosnia. However, the JNA was created by the old republic and had divided opinions of loyalties internally and disbanded. Non-Serbian officers and NCOs left the JNA to join forces with their home armies and thus destroying the only professional military force in Yugoslavia.[4] With no army left and an economy on the brink of bankruptcy, Serbia withdrew all troops in Croatia and Bosnia, leaving Serbian militias to fend for themselves.
Much of the interior of the Lika region of southern Croatia was captured by Krajina Serb (RSK) forces and the Serb-dominated Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) during 1991. As Croatia moved towards independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia the region saw heavy fighting throughout the summer and autumn, during which Croatian Serb rebels established the self-proclaimed (but internationally unrecognised) Republic of Serb Krajina. Almost all of the Croatian population in the Serb-held area was killed, expelled or forced to seek refuge in government held areas. Serbs continued shelling the major Croatian cities of Gospić, Zadar and Sibenik throughout the year from their positions, killing hundreds of civilians. Serious human rights violations were also perpetrated against Serbs in the Croatian government-held parts of the region, most notably the Gospić massacre of October 1991. In 1992 UNPROFOR entered Croatia then later Bosnia to restore the peace, act as negotiators, aid-workers and combat soldiers.[4] A ceasefire was agreed following the fall of the town of Vukovar at the end of the Battle of Vukovar in November 1991 and a United Nations peacekeeping force (UNPROFOR) was installed to police the armistice lines.
Despite this, sporadic sniping and shelling continued to take place between the two sides. Gospić, which was close to the front lines, was repeatedly subjected to shellfire from the Serbian Army of Krajina (SVK). The town was of great importance in securing lines of communication between Dalmatia and the rest of Croatia. Much of the shelling took place from the Serb-controlled Medak Pocket, an area of high ground near Medak, Croatia approximately four to five kilometres wide and five to six kilometres long which consisted of the localities of Divoselo, Čitluk and part of Počitelj plus numerous small hamlets. The pocket was primarily a rural area with a combination of forest and open fields. It was fairly lightly inhabited before the attack, with about 400 Serb civilians residing in the area[7] and was held by units of the SVK's 15th Lika Corps.
The pocket adjoined Sector South, one of the four United Nations Protected Areas (UNPAs) in Croatia. It was not actually in the UNPA but lay just outside in a so-called "pink zone", or disputed area, patrolled by UNPROFOR peacekeepers. Prior to the Medak Pocket offensive, Croatian government forces had launched several relatively small-scale attacks to retake rebel Serb-held territory in "pink zones" at the Miljevci Plateau in June 1992 and the area of the Maslenica bridge in northern Dalmatia in January 1993.[7] It has been alleged that the timing of the Maslenica and Medak offensives was owed to the political imperatives of Croatian President Franjo Tuđman, who was facing political difficulties following Croatia's intervention in the war in Bosnia.[8]
Croatian forces began their offensive at approximately 06:00 on 9 September 1993. The attack involved around 2,500 troops drawn from the Croatian Army's Gospić Operational Zone, including the 9th Guards Brigade, 111th Brigade, Gospić Home Guard Battalion, Lovinac Home Guard Battalion and Special Police Units of the Croatian Ministry of the Interior (MUP). New Croatian and Bosnian armies were very poorly trained and had no morals condemning them to just tactics, therefore, without the knowledge and strategic abilities to target and fight victoriously against respective soldiers, the armies moved their focus and target to civilians.[4] With no worry of how to defeat opponents in combat, and with civilians unprotected, defenseless, and an easy target, the Croatian Army honed in. With the armies already divided between race and then the focus turn from soldiers to civilians, the immoral act of ethnic cleaning quickly generated. The Croatians were largely armed with equipment captured from the Yugoslav People's Army, including T-72 tanks, as well as large numbers of artillery pieces and an array of small arms.
The SVK was taken by surprise and fell back. After two days of fighting the Croatian forces had taken control of Divoselo, Čitluk and part of Počitelj. The salient was pinched out with the new front line running just in front of the village of Medak. In retaliation for the offensive, Serb forces began to use long-range artillery to shell the city of Karlovac and fired FROG-7 ballistic missiles into the Croatian capital Zagreb.[4] The attack on Karlovac was especially brutal and dozens of civilians were killed.[9]
The SVK launched counter-attacks which retook some of the captured territory and brought the Croatian advance to a halt. It also threatened to attack 20 or 30 more targets throughout Croatia unless the captured territory was handed back. The two sides exchanged heavy artillery fire during 12–13 September, with the UN recording over 6,000 detonations in the Gospić-Medak area. On 13 and 14 September, Croatian Air Force MiG-21 aircraft attacked SVK artillery and rocket batteries in Banovina and Kordun but one aircraft was shot down near Vrginmost.[10]
The offensive attracted strong international criticism and, facing political and military pressure at home and from abroad, the Croatian government agreed to a ceasefire. The United Nations commander in Croatia, General Jean Cot, arranged and mediated ceasefire discussions.[10] On 15 September a ceasefire agreement was signed by General Mile Novaković, on behalf of the Serbian side and Major-General Petar Stipetić, on behalf of the Croatian side. The agreement required the Croatian forces to withdraw to the starting lines of 9 September, and for Serb forces to withdraw from the pocket and remain withdrawn thereafter. The Croatian withdrawal was scheduled for 1200 on 15 September.[7]
In order to oversee the withdrawal and protect local civilians, UNPROFOR sent 875 troops of the Second Battalion of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry to move into the pocket, accompanied by two French Army mechanized units. The UN forces, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel James Calvin, were instructed to interpose themselves between the Serb and Croatian forces.
The Canadians were among the best trained troops at UNPROFOR's disposal, making them a natural choice for this dangerous task. They were equipped with M-113 armoured personnel carriers and carried a mix of M2 .50 caliber machine guns, C-6 medium machine guns, C-7 assault rifles, C-9 light machine guns, and 84 mm Carl Gustav anti-tank rockets. The attached Heavy Weapons Support Company brought 81 mm mortars and a specially fitted APC armed with anti-tank guided missiles.[4]
Croatian forces and other officials involved with the Medak Pocket Mission lost confidence in the UN’s ability due to failed attacks on forces in the zone of separation between Krajinan Serb forces. Earlier that year Croatian troops had launched an attack in order to seize a power dam and reservoir. UN forces stationed in the area quickly fled before the attacking Croats, confirming Croat beliefs that a show of force would scare away the UN soldiers.[4] Consequently, the UN needed muscle in Sector South to rebuild its’ credibility in the eyes of many across the globe.[11] With their ‘tough but fair’ reputation the Canadian Battalion 2PPCLI was sent from North near Zagreb to Krajinan region in Southern Croatia, near the Dalmatian Coast territory.[12]
The Croatian forces, under the pretext of not receiving authorization from Zagreb, decided to attack the Canadian forces who were moving in between the Serb and Croat forces. Private Scott LeBlanc who was present in the UN forces recalls, "We started taking fire almost immediately from the Croats".[13] When the Canadians began constructing a fortified position, the Croatians fired hundreds of artillery shells at them. The barrage was sporadic, however, and the Canadians successfully used breaks in the shelling to repair and reinforce their positions. In the end, only four Canadians were wounded by the attack.
The UN forces subsequently took control of abandoned Serbian positions but again came under fire from the Croatian lines, with the attackers using rocket propelled grenades and anti-aircraft guns. The UN troops then dug in their positions and returned fire. As night fell the Croatians attempted several flanking manoeuvres but the Canadians responded with sniper fire against the Croatian infantry. The French used 20 mm cannon fire to suppress Croatian heavy weapons. Although this destroyed only a few of the heavy weapons, the aggressive UN response convinced the Croatians to only use their strongest weapons sporadically. They did not deploy their most powerful weapons, such as their tanks, apparently fearing that the UN would use anti-tank missiles and air support against them.[4] The Croatian commander, Rahim Ademi, upon realizing that his forces had reached a stalemate, met with the Canadian commander and agreed to a ceasefire where his troops would withdraw by noon the next day.
When the deadline passed, Canadian forces attempted to cross the Croatian lines, but were stopped at a mined and well-defended roadblock. Unwilling to fight his way through, Calvin instead held an impromptu media conference with the roadblock as a backdrop, telling 20 or so international journalists that Croatian forces clearly had something to hide.[13] The Croatian high command, realizing they had a public relations disaster on their hands, quickly moved back to their lines held on 9 September. The withdrawal was finally verified as having been completed by 18:00 on 17 September, bringing the offensive to an end.
The advancing Canadian forces discovered that the Croat army had destroyed almost all of the Serb buildings, razing them to the ground. In the burning wrecks they found 16 mutilated corpses.[13] The Canadians expected to find many survivors hiding in the woods, but no Serb was found alive. Rubber surgical gloves littered the area, suggesting a clean-up operation.[4] Everything was recorded and handed over to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The evidence helped convince the ICTY to issue an indictment in 2001 against Ademi, charging him with crimes against humanity.[13]
Calvin, the Canadian commander, later reported that "27 of [the Croatian Army's] members were killed or wounded during the fire fights with my battle group during the 14 days in Medak".[2] Even though the operation was considered a success, due to the emerging Somalia Affair, the clash was not highly publicized at the time. The true memorial heroes of the Medak Pocket incident were the Canadian Peacekeepers. Canadians are trained to deal with foreign population and authorities, have to deal with conflicting parties as a non-enemy participant with knowledge and the caution that one side would become the enemy.[14] Canadians are also taught how to deal with human rights violations, especially those that many Canadians had to face in the Medak Pocket where ethnic cleansing occurred. Most importantly they have an advanced knowledge and skill for the operational knowledge of law and armed conflict.[15] Most recognizable and honoured event of the Canadian troops during the Medak Pocket was their ability to immediately back down when Croatian forces ceased-fire. Canadians reverted to their role as impartial peacekeepers.[16] Canadian forces recognized that regular armies which are usually well disciplined, trained and respected the chain of command, irregular officers are often ignorant to the respected rules of combat.[17]
Calvin's report that 27 of the Croatian Army's members were killed or wounded is, according to Calvin, based on "Croatian reports",[18] and not on his own data.
The French Lieutenant-General Jean Cot, who was in charge of the operation and Calvin's superior officer, backs up the Canadian account of what happened and says:
| “ | It was the most important force operation the UN conducted in the former Yugoslavia ... While we could not prevent the slaughter of the Serbs by the Croatians, including elderly people and children, we drove back to its start line a well-equipped Croatian battalion of some thousand men. Together, the Canadians and the French succeeded in breaking the Croatian lines, and with their weapons locked and loaded and ready, firing when necessary. They circled and disarmed an eighteen-soldier commando from the Croatian Special Forces who had penetrated by night into their location. They did everything I expected from them and showed what real soldiers can do | ” |
In 2002 the Croatian newspaper Nacional published a report claiming that "the armed conflict between the Croatian and Canadian forces in operation Medak Pocket from 9 to 17 September 1993 never happened" and that the Canadians had fired "no more than a couple of shots into the night."[20] Retired Croatian general Davor Domazet-Loso, in an effort to defend his fellow Croatian generals fighting ICTY crimes against humanity charges, suggested Canadian troops fought Serb not Croat fighters.[21] This was strongly denied by the Canadian Department of National Defence, the Canadian Commander at the time, retired Col. Jim Calvin,[21] and decorated Canadian Army veterans who served at Medak.[22] For their part, the Croatian authorities, both civil and military, during the aftermath of the skirmish with the UN forces and in the years that followed, have never admitted that any serious battle with the UNPROFOR forces in the Medak area ever occurred and claim that the Canadian forces' version of events is politically motivated.
Radio 101 reported the testimony of a UN officer, Danish colonel Vagn Ove Moebjerg Nielsen, a witness at the Norac/Ademi trial for war crimes in Medak Pocket. Colonel Nielsen, who was not present during the Medak Pocket offensive, reportedly stated that in September 1993, except for one minor incident, there was no armed conflict between Croatian soldiers and the "blue helmets".[23]
In Canada, the event has been referred to as "Canada's secret battle", while in Croatia this event is denied. The Canadian Government sought to downplay and write off the Canadian involvement in the Medak Pocket.[24] The idea of writing off a piece of history is a dangerous notion. The Medak Pocket largely shaped the Canadian Army’s understanding of, “killing for peace.”[25] The Medak Pocket challenged the skill and discipline of the Canadian soldiers. The ability Canadians had to revert from combat soldiers to peacekeepers is a rare and highly respected standard of military practice.[26] By not telling the Canadian public about what had occurred in Medak creates a problem in two ways. The first is the effects denial has on the soldiers; a country that is ashamed of its soldiers actions will thus second guess their bravery and the value of their efforts.[27] [28] The second issue of downplaying Canadian role in Medak was the realization and fear of Canada’s policy and abandonment of a “peacekeeping” heritage.[29] [30] Many Canadians are unaware of the role their soldiers have in the world to restore, stabilize and change law and order in countries where it does not exist. Canadians easily can get confused with their role in other countries i.e. Afghanistan, and cannot comprehend how soldiers can be equally “warfighters, conflict negotiators and peacekeepers.” [31]
The UN immediately began an investigation into the events at Medak. The task was hampered by the systematic destruction that had been carried out by the withdrawing Croatians. The UN forces found that (in the words of an official Canadian study on the incident) "each and every building in the Medak Pocket had been leveled to the ground", in a total of eleven villages and hamlets.[4]
Investigators from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) determined that at least 100 Serb civilians had been unlawfully killed and many others had suffered serious injuries; many of the victims were women and elderly people. 29 executed Serb civilians have been identified, as well as five Serb soldiers who had been captured or wounded. More were thought to have been killed, but the bodies were said to have been removed or destroyed by the Croatians.[4] In addition, Serb-owned property was systematically looted and destroyed to render the area uninhabitable. Personal belongings, household goods, furniture, housing items, farm animals, farm machinery and other equipment were looted or destroyed, and wells were polluted to make them unusable. An estimated 164 homes and 148 barns and outbuildings were burned down or blown up. Much of the destruction was said to have taken place during the 48 hours between the ceasefire being signed and the withdrawal being completed.[7][32]
The US Department of State claimed that Croatian forces destroyed 11 Serbian villages and killed at least 67 individuals, including civilians.[33]
Several members of the Croatian military were subsequently charged with war crimes. The highest-ranking indictee was General Janko Bobetko. He was indicted for war crimes by the ICTY in 2001,[34] but died before the case was heard by the court, and in consequence the trial was cancelled.
The wider area was under the jurisdiction of the Gospić Military District, commanded at the time by Brigadier Rahim Ademi. He was also indicted by the ICTY and was transferred there in 2001. In 2004, General Mirko Norac – who was already serving a 12-year jail sentence in Croatia for his role in the Gospić massacre – was also indicted and transferred to The Hague. The two cases were joined in July 2004 and in November 2005 the Tribunal agreed to a Croatian government request to transfer the case back to Croatia, for trial before a Croatian court.[35]
The trial of Mirko Norac and Rahim Ademi began at the Zagreb County Court in June 2007 and resulted in a seven year sentence for Norac for failing to stop his soldiers killing Serbs (28 civilians and 5 prisoners) and acquittal for Ademi. [36]
After the offensive, most of the villages in the area were destroyed and depopulated. Even today, the region is still largely abandoned, though some Serbs have since returned to it.[37] The region remained, in effect, neutral ground between the warring sides until near the end of the war. It was recaptured by the Croatian Army on 4 August 1995 during Operation Storm, which ended in the defeat of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina.
The Medak Pocket offensive can be considered a tactical victory for the Croats in that it reduced the Serb threat against Gospić and permanently eliminated the possibility of splitting Croatia in half as had been planned. The goal having been achieved, the Croatian Army did not, at the time, press any further since the geopolitical and strategic situation was not ideal for a major offensive to fully control the region. The offensive also exposed serious weaknesses in the Croatian Army's command, control, and communications, which had also been a problem in Operation Maslenica earlier in the year.
The operation caused serious political difficulties for the Croatian government, which was heavily criticised abroad for its actions at Medak. The well-publicised accusations of war crimes, along with the Muslim-Croat bloodshed in Bosnia, led to Croatia's image being severely tarnished; in many quarters abroad, the country was viewed as having moved from being a victim to an aggressor.[38][39] It also provided a major propaganda boost for the Serbian side.
The war crimes committed during the operation damaged the credibility of UNPROFOR as well, as its forces had been unable to prevent them despite being in the vicinity at the time. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the UN Secretary-General, admitted that
The 2nd Battalion, PPCLI, was later awarded the Commander-in-Chief's Commendation for its actions in the Medak Pocket, the first Canadian unit ever presented this unit commendation.[41][42]